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What do you think about a company that sells pants, but wait they do not have a physical store where you can go in and try out the pants. This startup has an online store where you can do different types of pants and order one for you.

This is a Web only clothing company, named as Bonobos.

The search for the perfect pair of pants led Brian Spaly and former roommate Andy Dunn to start a Web-only clothing company that wants to sell men’s trousers that fit. And here you do not need the fitting rooms.

Business is good for Bonobos Inc. However, it is too early to tell if the startup will be able to reach the heights of another online apparel store with a similar beginning. Bonobos is similar to Zappos. Presently Amazon.com Inc. snapped up Zappos in an $850 million deal. Nick Swinmurn went looking for the right pair of shoes for himself in a San Francisco mall, which you couldn’t find. So, he created Zappos.com Inc., a Web-only shoe retailer which offers broad selection of items, generous return policy and quirky culture.

Bonobos was named after the endangered ape. The mass produced pants available in the chain stores and malls are often baggy and frumpy and the high-end designer pants are expensive and too tight. Bonobos wants to trade in the comfy middle ground.

Bonobos’ pants come with a curved waistband, less fabric in the thighs than the frumpy pants generally available, and a slight boot cut. You will find various colors like classic men’s colors khaki, blue and gray, and also orange, pale lavender and jungle green with bright flowers in its pants. Most of pants available at Bonobos cost $118.

Bonobos is so confident about its pants and designs that it accepts pants for return, free of postage for the buyer, no matter when they were bought and even if they’ve been washed, worn and hemmed. It also offers free domestic shipping. Bonobos will encourage you to order pants in several sizes and return the ones that don’t fit.

This is very crucial for Web only retailers to offer excellent customer service so as to attract customers from brick and mortar stores where they have been trying it for years.

Bonobos does not sell women’s clothing. It works under the assumption that men don’t like shopping.

There is a downside with the pants- Bonobos pants need hemming, because the company believes that ensures a custom fit for each buyer. It’ll be better if the company would let customers specify an inseam length so that the customers can wear the pants out of the box.

The History

Spaly used his girlfriend’s sewing machine to rip apart and hem his store-bought pants. Along with wearing those pants himself, he also sold he newly made pants to his classmates at the Business Studies department at Stanford University in 2005. Thus, Bonobos pants were born.

When Dunn signed on as a business partner, they launched Bonobos out of Dunn’s apartment in October 2007. Dunn, 30, is CEO and Spaly, 32, serves as chairman.

None of the founders has a fashion background.

The employees (they have 18 employees), including the customer service reps, called “ninjas,” have equity stakes of the company.

Marketing

Bonobos uses Twitter and Facebook to get feedback on designs. Like other Web startup, Bonobos relies heavily on word of mouth.

Financials

Last year Bonobos gathered $1.6 million in revenue and this year it expects two to three times that. But yet, the company hasn’t turned a profit.

Bonobos offers a “Band of Brothers” discount program under which teachers, soldiers, nurses and other public servants get 50 percent off for 12 months. For availing the discount, you’ll have to write to the company.

Right now, Bonobos operates out of a tightly packed Manhattan office. The company is slowly expanding and diversifying into other products such as shorts, swimming trunks and polo shirts.

To attract more people from the mass, Bonobos will have to introduce some cheaper pants.

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